The film begins with quick and stylised editing of a knife being sharpened which foreshadows the extreme violence which occurs during the film also the lighting in this initial scene is very cold and blue giving the film an instant unsettling atmosphere this kinetic visible editing as it quickly jump cuts to scenes of music playing and food being prepared which should give the scene a more positive atmosphere however as this is presented the lighting barely changes from a cold dull blue as no sunlight is present during the opening scene and the only sunlight which is present is blinding giving the audience a feeling of oppression. This is also shown as the perspective during the opening is through the chicken as we are constantly in a low angle view also the cuts to a closeup of the chickens face aligns us with the chicken.
As the chicken jumps down and begins to leave we see the first human within the film and instantly presents Lil Ze in a negative light as he is ordering people to get the chicken also when we see him its in an extreme close up which happens again as he is laughing foreshadowing his malicious intent.
As people run after the chicken we don't see any of their faces and we are back in the perspective of the chicken as it runs in the streets of the favela creating an oppressive atmosphere as the buildings tower over. Until it cuts to our second character of the film the scene is completely normal staying in mid shot as two characters talk also this scene has invisible editing making feel a lot calmer presenting Rocket as the protagonist. Only for it to quickly cut back to Lil Ze and it instantly goes back to kinetic editing as he is chasing the chicken pushing a man to the floor and pointing a gun at him showing the audience the danger that Lil Ze emanates.
As the Chicken jumps out on to the road we see only a small amount of sunlight and the sky representing freedom as we see the chicken in a high angle shot only for it to land back in the favelas this scene representing a theme which is prevalent throughout the film which is escape from the city of god and how it is impossible as multiple attempts are made by multiple different people on for them to die or fail.
The beginning of the apartment scene starts off with a low angle shot looking at at the buildings instantly giving an oppressive atmosphere as the buildings are towering over the people in the slums. The camera when Rocket is in the apartment is handheld and purposely shaky to make it feel more like a documentary and the lighting inside the apartment is very cold continuing to have kinetic editing with fast cuts until the film changes when Lil Ze enters the apartment and the camera cuts to a stationary mid shot.
When we go back in time seeing the apartment at the beginning it has very warm colours and lighting feeling much more domestic and as the scene carries on the mise en scene changes and slowly degrades into a cold drug den whilst this unfolds the camera continues to stay in a stationary mid shot with no cuts as the scenes flow between each other by using fades which gives a lot of exposition to the audience quickly.
Certain scenes which happen have much darker themes like murder and this is portrayed within the lighting of these scenes as most of the apartment will be in darkness with only a small bit of light creating a lot of shadows creating an erie atmosphere within these scenes.
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